Syrian murder and Israeli aeroplanes 'not linked'
Routine training cleared in advance, official says
Budapest : Two Israeli airforce aircraft that made a low-level pass over Budapest this week had nothing to do with the killing of a Syrian man in the Hungarian capital on the same day, Hungarian officials said yesterday.
Denying speculation that the aeroplanes were part of an undercover mission, Hungarian government spokesman Domokos Szollar said the overflight was "routine" training that was cleared in advance with Hungary by the Israelis.
Hungarian police said they saw no link between the planes and the shooting of the Syrian man, and their investigation of his murder was confined to Hungary.
"The Israeli airforce conducted a training operation at Ferihegy airport the day before yesterday, but it was not spying or reconaissance, merely a routine pilot manoeuvre, the so called touch-and-go," Szollar said. Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai ordered an investigation when the aeroplanes were sighted and reported in a Hungarian daily.
